Rally Portugal – SS11: Stage win for Pajari, Neuville closes in on Ogier!

The first special stage of the day was ultimately dry, despite rain being expected from the start. As such, all the leading drivers had opted for soft tires, supplemented by a spare hard tire. Adrien fourmauxMartin Sesks and Josh McErlean, the first two mentioned having suffered double punctures yesterday, were among the drivers. Sami Pajari got his day off to a perfect start by setting the fastest time on this stage in 05:46.0, ahead of [name missing]. Thierry Neuville in 05:48.5 and Elfyn Evans in 05:48.8.

At the same time, Sébastien Ogier He lost ground, two seconds to be exact, and now only holds a 1,7-second lead over his Belgian rival, who nevertheless stalled during the special stage and lost time. It's safe to say that this third day promises to be extremely competitive among the leaders.

In the Rally2 category, it was the WRC2 drivers who set the pace this morning. Teemu Suninen posted the fastest time with a 06:06.6, while Jan Solans reclaimed the RC2 class lead, previously held by Nikolay Gryazin, who competes outside of WRC2. Overall, the Spaniard now holds a 3,9-second advantage over Roope Korhonen, who maintains a 1-second lead over Yohan Rossel, even though Suninen has slotted in between them.

ALSO READ > LIVE – Sébastien Ogier still in the lead after SS11 but his advantage is shrinking, follow the third day live with our text updates

WRC – Rally Portugal
The provisional standings after SS11